Ann Trowbridge
Philadelphia
Jay Heuman

As an Architect of many Children's Museums I must agree with, Jay
Heuman, and Ann Trowbridge responses. Your programming should determine
the size but quality and what the museum has to offer, rather than size
will most influence visitation.
One point as an example; Norfolk developed the NAUTICUS museum on the
waterfront. The building was developed as an impressive 120,000 square
foot structure that swallows the site. Its $54,000,000 price tag was
believed to be needed to sell to visitors that this is a prominent
museum.  Point in fact, we had more visitors at the Children's Museum of
Virginia in Portsmouth (Across the water from Norfolk) during phase one
then NAUTICUS had. At that time the Children's Museum was 37,500 square
foot and cost $2,500,000 to complete. We had 200,000 visitors the first
year. The near bankrupt NAUTICUS has now been taken over by the City and
after many upgrades to the still lacking “Interactivity of exhibits” it
is trying to hold its own. With the addition of the battleship Wisconsin
berthed at the facility attendance has increased. Attendance to the
Wisconsin is free but visitors to the museum still must pay.
Unfortunately to get to the Wisconsin exhibit you must go upstairs in
the museum. When you have finished the Wisconsin tour there is really
nothing to prevent you from just going through the rest of the museum.
Loss revenue for the museum.
Size and $$$$ do not guarantee success.

William M. Greaves AIA, NCARB
Principal
Architects iN Design
http://www.architectsindesign.com
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1(757) 478-6489 PHONE
1(757) 496-6489 FAX/PHONE

ORIGINAL POST
Thomas,

As an architect involved in programming and designing museums, I've
found it
rare for an institution -- big or small -- to afford to build as much
space
as they want and need -- exhibit and otherwise.  So I would approach
your
problem from several angles, ideally somewhat simultaneously because
they
influence each other:

-- How large a facility (including all of the space) can you afford to
build, staff and operate (beyond the initial atypical first year or
two)?
-- What is the breakdown in expected income among endowment, visitor
admissions, memberships, donations, government funds, retail operations
etc.?
-- How many people would likely visit the museum and how might they be
distributed over the day and calendar year?  Such marketing studies
should
suggest how much public space (which could be retail, exhibit,
performance
etc.) you would need to house peak or typical crowds.  They may also
suggest
the amount of retail space that would likely be profitable.
-- What stories do you want to tell and how will you tell them?
-- What collections do you have that you want to exhibit and acquire?
-- Do you want to host or develop travelling shows of a certain size?
-- What public and staff spaces are needed to support the exhibition
program?
-- If you have an existing site or building in mind, what is its
capacity?

I agree with Jay's post that quality rather than size most influences
visitation, especially when talking about art and artifacts.  Location
is
also significant.  People from around the world would want to visit the
Louvre in large numbers even if it housed only the Mona Lisa in a one
room
museum at that location in Paris.  People come in large numbers to see
the
Liberty Bell housed alone in a small pavillion in Philadelphia because
of
the bell's special meaning, bolstered by its surrounding colonial
context,
the aura of its crack, and -- at least in the past -- a generous access
policy allowing touching and photos.

Ann Trowbridge
Philadelphia

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